Optimized digital components

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for optimizing digital components. In one aspect, the system includes a digital component server that identifies a digital component to be presented in an electronic document. The system also includes a digital component distribution server that interacts with the digital component server to determine that the electronic document includes a particular item that identifies a same entity as the digital component that was identified to be presented in the electronic document. The system combines at least a portion of the digital component with content from the particular item to form an optimized digital component. The optimized digital component is integrated into the electronic document rather than presenting either of the particular item or the digital component individually.

BACKGROUND

This specification relates to data processing and combining componentsfrom different sources.

The Internet facilitates the exchange of information between usersacross the globe. This exchange of information enables distribution ofcontent to a variety of users. In some situations, content from multipledifferent providers can be integrated into a single electronic documentto create a composite document. For example, a portion of the contentincluded in the electronic document may be selected (or specified) by apublisher of the electronic document. A digital component (e.g., adifferent portion of content) can be provided by a third-party (e.g., anentity that is not a publisher of the electronic document), andintegrated into the electronic document with the portion of contentselected by the publisher. In some situations, the digital component isselected for integration with the electronic document after a user hasalready requested presentation of the electronic document. For example,machine executable instructions (e.g., a script) included in theelectronic document can be executed by a client device when theelectronic document is rendered at the client device, and theinstructions can enable (e.g., program) the client device to contact oneor more remote servers to obtain one or more digital components thatwill be integrated into the electronic document, for example at theclient device.

SUMMARY

In general, one innovative aspect of the subject matter described inthis specification can be embodied in systems that include a digitalcomponent server and a digital component distribution server. Thedigital component server identifies a digital component to be presentedin an electronic document. The digital component distribution serverinteracts with the digital component server and performs operationsincluding determining that the electronic document includes a particularitem that identifies a same entity as the digital component that wasidentified to be presented in the electronic document; combining atleast a portion of the digital component with content from theparticular item to form an optimized digital component, wherein thecombining is performed because of the determination that the particularitem identifies the same entity as the digital component; integratingthe optimized digital component into the electronic document rather thanpresenting either of the particular item or the digital componentindividually; and updating a user interface of a client device topresent the electronic document that includes the optimized digitalcomponent rather than either of the particular item or the digitalcomponent. Other embodiments of this aspect include correspondingmethods, apparatus, and computer programs, configured to perform theactions of the methods, encoded on computer storage devices. These andother embodiments can each optionally include one or more of thefollowing features.

The digital component distribution server can perform operations furtherincluding determining, for the optimized digital component, anincremental interaction factor based on an incremental amount ofinteractions generated by presentations of the digital componentrelative to an amount of interactions generated by items other than thedigital component that identify the same entity; and attributing, to thedigital component, a fraction of interactions generated by the optimizeddigital component based on the incremental interaction factor.

The particular item can be a given search result in a set of searchresults that are responsive to a received query. The set of searchresults may have been generated for presentation in the electronicdocument. Determining the incremental interaction factor for theoptimized digital component can include determining a baselineinteraction rating for search results that identify the same entity;determining a component interaction rating for one or more digitalcomponents that identify the same entity; and determining theincremental interaction factor, including determining a ratio of thecomponent interaction rating to the baseline interaction rating.

Attributing a fraction of interactions generated by the optimizeddigital component to the digital component can include determining aproduct of the incremental interaction factor and a measure ofinteractions generated by the optimized digital component.

The digital component distribution server can perform operationsincluding interacting with a third-party analytics server to augmentattribution of the interactions generated by the optimized digitalcomponent to the digital component based on the incremental interactionfactor for the digital component.

Interacting with the third-party analytics server can include receiving,by the digital component distribution server and from the third-partyanalytics server, an inquiry message specifying a tracking identifiercorresponding to installation of an application at a client device thatis being attributed to the digital component; determining that thetracking identifier corresponds to an instance in which an optimizeddigital component rather than the digital component was presented;transmitting, to the third-party analytics server in response to theinquiry message, a response that acknowledges the tracking identifier asoriginating from the one or more servers and specifies that theincremental interaction factor is to be applied to interactionsattributed to the tracking identifier.

The digital component distribution server can perform operationsincluding collecting, for each application install generated by theoptimized digital component, a fraction of an install value submittedfor each application install attributed to the digital component,wherein the fraction is determined in accordance with the incrementalinteraction factor.

Particular embodiments of the subject matter described in thisspecification can be implemented so as to realize one or more of thefollowing advantages. Content from different distinct units of content(e.g., provided by different servers or providers) can be combined intoa single unit of content, while still attributing a proper amount ofinteraction to each of the distinct units of content that were combinedto generate the single unit of content. For example, if a search resultand a particular digital component are combined into a single unit ofcontent, the digital component can be attributed a fractional portion ofinteractions that are generated by the single unit of content based onan incremental amount of interactions that the digital componentgenerates on its own (e.g., relative to the amount of interactions thatthe search result generates on its own). Multiple different versions ofcontent (e.g., optimized digital components) can be dynamicallygenerated at run-time (e.g., after receiving a search query andidentifying search results) without having to store each of thedifferent versions, thereby enabling countless different versions ofcontent to be made available while utilizing only a fraction of thememory that would be required to store each different version of thecontent. Multiple different versions of content (e.g., optimized digitalcomponents can be dynamically generated as a user browses throughinformation (e.g., in an app store) about various applications. Userconfusion can be reduced by presenting only a single unit of contentthat includes portions of a search result (or another particular item)and a separate digital component rather than presenting two differentunits of content that both refer to a same entity (e.g., downloadableapplication), for example, because the user does not need to closelyinvestigate two different units of content to try to determine thedifferences between them. The limited amount of display space availableat a client device (e.g., user device) is more effectively utilized bycombining two different units of content (e.g., a search result oranother particular item and a separate digital component) into a singleunit of content that is presented in the display space. The amount ofredundant data presented by the system is reduced by combining the twodifferent units of content in a manner that prevents the presentation ofredundant content being included in the single unit of content that isgenerated. The fractional attribution technique can be implementedacross multiple different third-party servers, such that contentproviders can utilize the fractional attribution technique irrespectiveof which third-party server is used to track interactions. Thefractional attribution technique can be implemented without requiringany changes to a publisher website or digital components that areavailable for distribution.

The details of one or more embodiments of the subject matter describedin this specification are set forth in the accompanying drawings and thedescription below. Other features, aspects, and advantages of thesubject matter will become apparent from the description, the drawings,and the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example environment in which content isdistributed.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of example user interfaces that include anexample digital component and an example optimized digital component.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of an example process for combining multiplecomponents into a single unit of content.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating example communications with athird-party server.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an example computing device.

Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicatelike elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This document discloses methods, systems, and devices that are used tofacilitate generation and tracking of optimized digital components overa network. As discussed in more detail below, and optimized digitalcomponent can be created, for example, when the same entity (e.g.,product, service, or downloadable application) is identified in both ofa particular visual item (e.g., a search result that has been identifiedfor presentation in a search results page or another visuallypresentable item) and a digital component that has been identified forpresentation in the page. For example, assume that a search results pagefor the search query “App1” is being generated, and that particularsearch result (e.g., a highest ranked search result) identifies adownloadable application having the title “App1,” and that a digitalcomponent (e.g., audio clip, video clip, image, or text in any formincluding the form of an advertisement) that has been selected forpresentation in the search results page also identifies the downloadableapplication having the title “App1.” In this example, instead ofpresenting both of the particular search result identifying App1 and thedigital component identifying App1, content from the particular searchresult and the digital component can be combined into a single unit ofcontent that is presented in the search results page instead of theparticular search result or the digital component. This single unit ofcontent that includes content from the particular search result and thedigital component can be referred to as an optimized digital component.As discussed in more detail below, the optimized digital component canbe larger than either of the digital component or the particular searchresult (or other particular item) used to generate the optimized digitalcomponent. Additionally, and also described in more detail below,interactions that are generated by the optimized digital component maybe fractionally attributed to the digital component based on the factthat the particular search result alone would generate some baselinelevel of interaction even if the digital component (or a portionthereof) were not presented.

Note that the techniques described in this document can also beimplemented in situations where a user browsing through availableapplications (e.g., in an online Application Store). For example, if thepage that will be presented to the browsing user will include both aparticular item that identifies App1 and a digital component thatidentifies App1, the particular item and the digital component can becombined to create an optimized digital component. For brevity, much ofthe description that follows will refer to the search resultsenvironment.

As used throughout this document, the phrase “digital component” refersto a discrete unit of digital content or digital information (e.g., avideo clip, audio clip, multimedia clip, image, text, or another unit ofcontent). A digital component can electronically be stored in a physicalmemory device as a single file or in a collection of files, and digitalcomponents can take the form of video files, audio files, multimediafiles, image files, or text files and include advertising information,such that an advertisement is a type of digital component. Generally, adigital component is defined by (or provided by) a single provider orsource (e.g., an advertiser, publisher, or other content provider). Asdiscussed in more detail below, digital components from multipledifferent sources can be combined into a single electronic document(e.g., collection of various different digital components), and portionsof various digital components from different sources can be combinedinto a single digital component with information extracted from searchresults (or other portions of content).

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example environment 100 in which digitalcomponents are distributed for presentation with electronic documents.The example environment 100 includes a network 102, such as a local areanetwork (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), the Internet, or a combinationthereof. The network 102 connects electronic document servers 104,client devices 106, digital component servers 108, and a digitalcomponent distribution system 110 (also referred to as a componentdistribution system). The example environment 100 may include manydifferent electronic document servers 104, client devices 106, anddigital component servers 108.

A client device 106 is an electronic device that is capable ofrequesting and receiving resources over the network 102. Example clientdevices 106 include personal computers, mobile communication devices,and other devices that can send and receive data over the network 102. Aclient device 106 typically includes a user application, such as a webbrowser, to facilitate the sending and receiving of data over thenetwork 102, but native applications executed by the client device 106can also facilitate the sending and receiving of data over the network102.

An electronic document is data that presents a set of content at aclient device 106. Examples of electronic documents include webpages,word processing documents, portable document format (PDF) documents,images, videos, search results pages, and feed sources. Nativeapplications (e.g., “apps”), such as applications installed on mobile,tablet, or desktop computing devices are also examples of electronicdocuments. Electronic documents can be provided to client devices 106 byelectronic document servers 104 (“Electronic Doc Servers”). For example,the electronic document servers 104 can include servers that hostpublisher websites. In this example, the client device 106 can initiatea request for a given publisher webpage, and the electronic server 104that hosts the given publisher webpage can respond to the request bysending machine executable instructions that initiate presentation ofthe given webpage at the client device 106.

In another example, the electronic document servers 104 can include appservers from which client devices 106 can download apps. In thisexample, the client device 106 can download files required to install anapp at the client device 106, and then execute the downloaded applocally.

Electronic documents can include a variety of content. For example, anelectronic document can include static content (e.g., text or otherspecified content) that is within the electronic document itself and/ordoes not change over time. Electronic documents can also include dynamiccontent that may change over time or on a per-request basis. Forexample, a publisher of a given electronic document can maintain a datasource that is used to populate portions of the electronic document. Inthis example, the given electronic document can include a tag or scriptthat causes the client device 106 to request content from the datasource when the given electronic document is processed (e.g., renderedor executed) by a client device 106. The client device 106 integratesthe content obtained from the data source into the given electronicdocument to create a composite electronic document including the contentobtained from the data source.

In some situations, a given electronic document can include a digitalcomponent tag or digital component script that references the digitalcomponent distribution system 110. In these situations, the digitalcomponent tag or digital component script is executed by the clientdevice 106 when the given electronic document is processed by the clientdevice 106. Execution of the digital component tag or digital componentscript configures the client device 106 to generate a request fordigital components 112 (referred to as a “component request”), which istransmitted over the network 102 to the digital component distributionsystem 110. For example, the digital component tag or digital componentscript can enable the client device 106 to generate a packetized datarequest including a header and payload data. The component request 112can include event data specifying features such as a name (or networklocation) of a server from which the digital component is beingrequested, a name (or network location) of the requesting device (e.g.,the client device 106), and/or information that the digital componentdistribution system 110 can use to select one or more digital componentsprovided in response to the request. The component request 112 istransmitted, by the client device 106, over the network 102 (e.g., atelecommunications network) to a server of the digital componentdistribution system 110.

The component request 112 can include event data specifying other eventfeatures, such as the electronic document being requested andcharacteristics of locations of the electronic document at which digitalcomponent can be presented. For example, event data specifying areference (e.g., URL) to an electronic document (e.g., webpage) in whichthe digital component will be presented, available locations of theelectronic documents that are available to present digital components,sizes of the available locations, and/or media types that are eligiblefor presentation in the locations can be provided to the digitalcomponent distribution system 110. Similarly, event data specifyingkeywords associated with the electronic document (“document keywords”)or entities (e.g., people, places, or things) that are referenced by theelectronic document can also be included in the component request 112(e.g., as payload data) and provided to the digital componentdistribution system 110 to facilitate identification of digitalcomponents that are eligible for presentation with the electronicdocument. The event data can also include a search query that wassubmitted from the client device 106 to obtain a search results page,and/or data specifying search results and/or textual, audible, or othervisual content that is included in the search results.

Component requests 112 can also include event data related to otherinformation, such as information that a user of the client device hasprovided, geographic information indicating a state or region from whichthe component request was submitted, or other information that providescontext for the environment in which the digital component will bedisplayed (e.g., a time of day of the component request, a day of theweek of the component request, a type of device at which the digitalcomponent will be displayed, such as a mobile device or tablet device).Component requests 112 can be transmitted, for example, over apacketized network, and the component requests 112 themselves can beformatted as packetized data having a header and payload data. Theheader can specify a destination of the packet and the payload data caninclude any of the information discussed above.

The component distribution system 110, which includes one or moredigital component distribution servers, chooses digital components thatwill be presented with the given electronic document in response toreceiving the component request 112 and/or using information included inthe component request 112. In some implementations, a digital componentis selected in less than a second to avoid errors that could be causedby delayed selection of the digital component. For example, delays inproviding digital components in response to a component request 112 canresult in page load errors at the client device 106 or cause portions ofthe electronic document to remain unpopulated even after other portionsof the electronic document are presented at the client device 106. Also,as the delay in providing the digital component to the client device 106increases, it is more likely that the electronic document will no longerbe presented at the client device 106 when the digital component isdelivered to the client device 106, thereby negatively impacting auser's experience with the electronic document. Further, delays inproviding the digital component can result in a failed delivery of thedigital component, for example, if the electronic document is no longerpresented at the client device 106 when the digital component isprovided.

In some implementations, the digital component distribution system 110is implemented in a distributed computing system that includes, forexample, a server and a set of multiple computing devices 114 that areinterconnected and identify and distribute digital component in responseto requests 112. The set of multiple computing devices 114 operatetogether to identify a set of digital components that are eligible to bepresented in the electronic document from among a corpus of millions ofavailable digital components (DC_(1-x)). The millions of availabledigital components can be indexed, for example, in a digital componentdatabase 116. Each digital component index entry can reference thecorresponding digital component and/or include distribution parameters(DP₁-DP_(x)) that contribute to (e.g., condition or limit) thedistribution/transmission of the corresponding digital component. Forexample, the distribution parameters can contribute to the transmissionof a digital component by requiring that a component request include atleast one criterion that matches (e.g., either exactly or with somepre-specified level of similarity) one of the distribution parameters ofthe digital component.

In some implementations, the distribution parameters for a particulardigital component can include distribution keywords that must be matched(e.g., by electronic documents, document keywords, or terms specified inthe component request 112) in order for the digital component to beeligible for presentation. The distribution parameters can also requirethat the component request 112 include information specifying aparticular geographic region (e.g., country or state) and/or informationspecifying that the component request 112 originated at a particulartype of client device (e.g., mobile device or tablet device) in orderfor the digital component to be eligible for presentation. Thedistribution parameters can also specify an eligibility value (e.g.,ranking score or some other specified value) that is used for evaluatingthe eligibility of the digital component for distribution/transmission(e.g., among other available digital components), as discussed in moredetail below. In some situations, the eligibility value can specify anamount that will be submitted when a specific event is attributed to thedigital component (e.g., when an application is installed at a clientdevice through interaction with the digital component or otherwiseattributable to presentation of the digital component).

The identification of the eligible digital component can be segmentedinto multiple tasks 117 a-117 c that are then assigned among computingdevices within the set of multiple computing devices 114. For example,different computing devices in the set 114 can each analyze a differentportion of the digital component database 116 to identify variousdigital components having distribution parameters that match informationincluded in the component request 112. In some implementations, eachgiven computing device in the set 114 can analyze a different datadimension (or set of dimensions) and pass (e.g., transmit) results (Res1-Res 3) 118 a-118 c of the analysis back to the digital componentdistribution system 110. For example, the results 118 a-118 c providedby each of the computing devices in the set 114 may identify a subset ofdigital components that are eligible for distribution in response to thecomponent request and/or a subset of the digital component that havecertain distribution parameters. The identification of the subset ofdigital components can include, for example, comparing the event data tothe distribution parameters, and identifying the subset of digitalcomponents having distribution parameters that match at least somefeatures of the event data.

The digital component distribution system 110 aggregates the results 118a-118 c received from the set of multiple computing devices 114 and usesinformation associated with the aggregated results to select one or moredigital components that will be provided in response to the request 112.For example, the digital component distribution system 110 can select aset of winning digital components (one or more digital components) basedon the outcome of one or more component evaluation processes, asdiscussed below. In turn, the digital component distribution system 110can generate and transmit, over the network 102, reply data 120 (e.g.,digital data representing a reply) that enable the client device 106 tointegrate the set of winning digital components into the givenelectronic document, such that the set of winning digital components andthe content of the electronic document are presented together at adisplay of the client device 106.

In some implementations, the client device 106 executes instructionsincluded in the reply data 120, which configures and enables the clientdevice 106 to obtain the set of winning digital component from one ormore digital component servers. For example, the instructions in thereply data 120 can include a network location (e.g., a Uniform ResourceLocator (URL)) and a script that causes the client device 106 totransmit a server request (SR) 121 to the digital component server 108to obtain a given winning digital component from the digital componentserver 108. In response to the request, the digital component server 108will identify the given winning digital component specified in theserver request 121 (e.g., within a database storing multiple digitalcomponents) and transmit, to the client device 106, digital componentdata (DC Data) 122 that presents the given winning digital component inthe electronic document at the client device 106.

To facilitate searching of electronic documents, the environment 100 caninclude a search system 150 that identifies the electronic documents bycrawling and indexing the electronic documents (e.g., indexed based onthe crawled content of the electronic documents). Data about theelectronic documents can be indexed based on the electronic documentwith which the data are associated. The indexed and, optionally, cachedcopies of the electronic documents are stored in a search index 152(e.g., hardware memory device(s)). Data that are associated with anelectronic document is data that represents content included in theelectronic document and/or metadata for the electronic document.

Client devices 106 can submit search queries to the search system 150over the network 102. In response, the search system 150 accesses thesearch index 152 to identify electronic documents that are relevant tothe search query. The search system 150 identifies the electronicdocuments in the form of search results and returns the search resultsto the client device 106 in search results page. A search result is datagenerated by the search system 150 that identifies an electronicdocument that is responsive (e.g., relevant) to a particular searchquery, and includes an active link (e.g., hypertext link) that causes aclient device to request data from a specified location in response touser interaction with the search result. An example search result caninclude a web page title, a snippet of text or a portion of an imageextracted from the web page, and the URL of the web page. Anotherexample search result can include a title of a downloadable application,a snippet of text describing the downloadable application, an imagedepicting a user interface of the downloadable application, and/or a URLto a location from which the application can be downloaded to the clientdevice 106. In some situations, the search engine can be part of, orinteract with, an application store (or an online portal) from whichapplications can be downloaded for install at a client device 106 inorder to present information about downloadable applications that arerelevant to a submitted search query. Like other electronic documentssearch results pages can include one or more slots in which digitalcomponents (e.g., advertisements, video clips, audio clips, images, orother digital components) can be presented.

In some situations, a digital component that is selected to be presentedin an electronic document may refer to a same entity as one or more ofthe search results that are included in the electronic document. Forexample, assume that the electronic document is a search results pagebeing provided in response to the search query “App1.” In this example,the search results for the search query “App1” may include a searchresult that identifies an application titled App1 and/or enables a userto download the application titled App1 from an application store.Further assume, for purposes of example, that the digital componentdistribution system 110 selected a digital component that includesinformation about the application App1, and that the digital componentincludes a control that enables the user to download the applicationtitled App1 from the application store. In this situation, theelectronic document will include two different items (e.g., a searchresult and a separate digital component) that both refer to the sameentity (e.g., the downloadable application App1), and both enable a userto download the application App1 from the application store. As such,the electronic document includes redundant information, which can resultin inefficient use of a limited amount of display space and may causeuser confusion as to which of the items the user should interact with todownload the application.

As discussed in more detail below, the digital component distributionsystem 110 can improve the utilization of the limited display space andreduce confusion among users by taking various actions when a searchresult and a digital component that is being presented with the searchresult both identify (or refer to) a same entity. For example, in somesituations, content from the search query and the digital component canbe combined into a single content unit (e.g., an optimized digitalcomponent), which will be presented in the search results page insteadof either of the search query or the digital component.

The digital component distribution system 110 can also attribute afractional portion of interactions generated by an optimized digitalcomponent to the digital component that was used to generate theoptimized general component, as discussed in more detail with referenceto FIG. 3. This prevents the amount of interactions attributed to thedigital component from being overstated when the digital component isnot the sole source of the interactions, thereby improving the accuracywith which a computer system tracks and attributes interactions to thedifferent portions of content used to generate the optimized digitalcomponent. Further, as discussed below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4,the digital component distribution system 110 can be configured toenable third-party servers to accurately attribute interactions to thedigital component when interactions are generated by the optimizeddigital component, but the third-party servers are unaware of the factthat the optimized digital component is a combination of content frommultiple different sources (e.g., a search result and digital componentprovided by a different provider than the search results). Morespecifically, the techniques discussed below enable theservers/computing devices responsible for attributing interactions todigital components to more accurately record and track attribution insituations where the optimized digital component is used instead of thedigital component, but the use of the optimized digital component isinitiated by a separate server/system.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of example user interfaces 200 and 250 thatrespectively include an example digital component 202 and an exampleoptimized digital component 252. The example digital component 202 isshown presented in a user interface 204 of a mobile device (e.g., asmartphone), and the example optimized digital component 252 is alsopresented in a user interface 254 of a mobile device. The userinterfaces of the mobile devices are provided for example purposes only,as the techniques and features discussed below can be implemented invarious different user interfaces presented in various different typesof devices.

As shown in FIG. 2, the user interface 204 and the user interface 254are each being presented in response to submission of a search query“App1” that has been submitted through a search submission control 206that is presented in each of the user interfaces. More specifically, theuser interface 204 is presenting the digital component 202 that wasselected for presentation, for example, by the digital componentdistribution system 110. The user interface 204 also is also presentingthree search results 208 a, 208 b, and 208 c that were selected by adifferent system, such as the search system 150. Meanwhile, the userinterface 254 is presenting the search results 208 b and 208 c, but isnot presenting the search result 208 a. Rather, the user interface 254is presenting the optimized digital component 252 instead of either ofthe digital component 202 or search result 208 a that are presented inthe user interface 204.

The optimized digital component 252 can be created, for example, bymerging (e.g., combining) content from each of two separate units ofcontent (e.g., the digital component 202 and the search result 208 a)into a single unit of content or content unit (e.g., the optimizeddigital component 252). As discussed above, and in more detail below,the digital component 202 and the search result 208 a can be combined toform the optimized digital component 252, for example, when it isdetermined that the digital component 202 and the search result 208 aboth identify (or refer to) a same entity and that both of the digitalcomponent 202 and the search result 208 a will be presented together ina same search results page (or another electronic document). In thisexample, the digital component 202 and the search result 208 a bothidentify App1 (e.g., the title of the application) in their respectivetextual content. As such, these two units of content each identify thesame entity (i.e., the application App1). Thus, when both of the digitalcomponent 202 and the search result 208 a (or another search result thatidentifies App1) are selected for presentation in the same searchresults page, the optimized digital component 252 an be created (e.g.,by the digital component distribution system 110) and presented in thesearch results page instead of presenting the digital component 202 andthe search result 208 a in the search results page.

As shown in FIG. 2, the optimized digital component 252 is larger thaneither of the digital component 202 or the search result 208 a. Morespecifically, in this example, the vertical height of the optimizeddigital component 252 is taller than the vertical height of either ofthe digital component 202 or the search result 208 a, but the sizeincrease could be due to an increased width instead of, or in additionto, the increased vertical height. As such, the optimized digitalcomponent 252 occupies more of the display than either of the digitalcomponent 202 or the search result 208 a.

In some implementations, various portions of content can be extractedfrom the search result 208 a and inserted into the optimized digitalcomponent 252 along with content from the digital component 202. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 2, textual information 210, rating information212, and an icon 214 can be extracted from the search result 208 a, andinserted into the optimized digital component 252 along with an installcontrol 216 and a more info control 218 from the digital component 202,as indicated by the arrows. The optimized digital component 252 can alsoinclude other information (e.g., Info 1-Info 5) and/or screen shots(e.g., UI 1-UI 5) that can be obtained from one or more other sources ofinformation about the same entity (e.g., data stores that storeinformation about App1, an application store from which the applicationis downloadable, or another source of information such as third-partyreviews).

The portions of content are aggregated into the single unit of content(e.g., that is visually distinct from other units of content presentedin the user interface), and presented in the user interface 254, suchthat the user interface 254 only includes one unit of content thatidentifies the same entity (e.g., App1), rather than having multipledifferent units of content that each refer to the same entity (e.g., thesame downloadable application). This reduces confusion that may arisewhen two different units of content are identifying the same entity, andalso provides an enhanced visualization of relevance when both of thedigital component 202 and the search result 208 a are selected forpresentation in response to the submitted query. More specifically, theincreased size of the optimized digital component 252 and the additionalinformation provided by the optimized digital component 252 provides anindication that the entity (e.g., downloadable application) identifiedin the optimized digital component is more relevant to the submittedquery than other entities that may be identified in the search results208 b and 208 c or other digital components that may be presented in theuser interface 254.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of an example process 300 for combining multiplecomponents into a single unit of content. The single unit of content canbe referred to as an optimized digital component. The optimized digitalcomponent can include portions of content from a given digital componentand a given search result. In some implementations, the optimizeddigital component is created to replace both of the given digitalcomponent and the given search result when both of the given digitalcomponent and the given search result have both been selected forpresentation in a same electronic document. The process 300 can beperformed by one or more servers or other computing devices. Forexample, operations of the process 300 can be performed by digitalcomponent distribution system 110 of FIG. 1. Operations of the process300 can also be implemented as instructions stored on a non-transitorycomputer readable medium, and when the instructions are executed by oneor more servers (or other computing devices), the instructions cause theone or more servers to perform operations of the process 300.

A digital component to be presented in an electronic document with anelectronic document is identified (302). The electronic document can be,for example, a search results page being presented responsive to areceived query, a particular page of an online application store, oranother electronic document. In some implementations, one or moreservers that identified the digital component previously received asearch query and use the search query to identify search results thatare responsive to the search query. For example, the one or more serverscan include a search system (e.g., a search engine) that receives thesearch query from a client device and identifies search results that aredeemed relevant to the search query by the search engine.

The digital component can be identified, for example, by one or moreservers (or other computing devices), such as the digital componentdistribution system 110 of FIG. 1. The digital component can beidentified using event data that are received with a request for adigital component. For purposes of example, assume that the receivedsearch query is identified as “App1” in a set of event data, and thatthe search results identified as responsive to the search query includethe search results 208 a, 208 b, and 208 c of FIG. 2. Further assumethat the digital component identified to be presented with the searchresults 208 a, 208 b, and 208 c is the digital component 202 of FIG. 2.As discussed above, the digital component 202 can be identified forpresentation in a search results page, for example, based on adistribution keyword for the digital component 202 matching the searchquery “App1.” More specifically, the digital component distributionsystem 110 can compare the search query “App1” to the distributionkeywords for the digital component 202 and determine that a match existsbased on a similarity (e.g., an exact match or a near match) between thesearch query and the distribution keywords.

In another example, assume that a user is browsing pages of an onlineapplication store (or another web site), and that the user hasinteracted with a link that causes presentation of visual items thatidentify various downloadable applications. For example, assume that theuser has clicked on a “strategy games” link that causes presentation ofa page that includes a list of items that identify different strategygames that are available for download. In this example, if App1 is a“strategy game,” the page may include a particular item (e.g., visualportion of content) that identifies App1 as an application that isrelated to the strategy game category and is available for download.Further, the phrase “strategy game” may be used to identify a digitalcomponent to be presented on the page with the list of items.

A determination is made that the electronic document includes aparticular item (e.g., a given search result or other visual portion ofcontent) that identifies a same entity as the digital component that wasidentified to be presented in the electronic document (304). In someimplementations, the determination that the particular item identifies asame entity as the digital component can be performed based on ananalysis of the content of the digital component and the particular item(e.g., the given search result or other visual portion of content). Forexample, content of a given search result (or other visual portion ofcontent) can be parsed to identify various phrases (e.g. one or morewords), images, or other attributes that are included in the givensearch result. The content of the digital component can be similarlyparsed to identify various phrases, images, or other attributes that areincluded in the digital component. The parsed attributes of the givensearch result (or other visual portion of content) and the digitalcomponent can be compared, for example, to determine whether a sameentity is identified or referenced by each of the given search result(or other visual portion of content) and the digital component. Forexample, if the title of “App1” for the downloadable application “App1”is included in the parsed attributes of the given search result and theparsed attributes of the digital component, the given search result andthe digital component can be determined to identify the same entity(e.g., the downloadable application titled App1).

At least a portion of the digital component is combined with contentfrom the particular item (e.g., given search result or other visualportion of content in the electronic document) to form an optimizeddigital component (306). The optimized digital component can be largerthan either of the particular item (e.g., the given search result) orthe digital component individually. For example, an amount of displayarea occupied by the optimized digital component can be greater than theamount of display area occupied by the given search result or the amountof display area occupied by the digital component. In someimplementations, the portion of the digital component and the contentfrom the given search result are combined because of (e.g., in responseto) the determination that the given search result identifies the sameentity as the digital component. The combining of the portion of thedigital component and the content from the given search result can alsobe conditioned on the determination that both of the digital componentand the given search result will be presented in a same electronicdocument. For example, the digital component and the content from thegiven search result may only be combined when both of the digitalcomponent and the given search result have been selected forpresentation in a same search results page. In some implementations, thegeneration of the optimized digital component can be conditioned on thegiven search result (or other portions of visual content) and thedigital component being selected for presentation immediately adjacentto each other in the display (e.g., without any other search results,items, or digital components being presented between the given searchresult and the digital component).

The content from the particular item (e.g., given search result) can becombined with the digital component in various different ways. Forexample, the combination of the given search result with the digitalcomponent can be based on a template that specifies which portion of asearch result will be extracted from the search result and inserted intothe digital component. The template can also specify types of content(e.g., text, images, video, audio, or other types of content) that areeligible for being inserted into (or combined with content from) thedigital component, where specific types of content will be located inthe optimized digital component, as well as formatting or other detailsregarding how the combination of the content from the given searchresult and the digital component will be presented together in a singleunit of content.

The optimized digital component is integrated into the electronicdocument rather than presenting either of the given search result or thedigital component individually (308). In some implementations, theoptimized digital component can be integrated into the electronicdocument such that the optimized digital component is presented in adisplay area of the electronic document at which the given search resultand the digital component would have been presented. For example, FIG. 2shows the optimized digital component 252 being presented at a displaylocation where the digital component 202 and the search result 208 a arepresented in the user interface 204. As illustrated, the optimizeddigital component 252 replaces both of the digital component 202 and thesearch result 208 a, such that the optimized digital component 252 ispresented instead of either of the digital component 202 or the searchresult 208 a.

The user interface of a client device is updated to present theelectronic document that includes the optimized digital component ratherthan either of the given search result or the digital component (310).In some implementations, the user interface of the client device isupdated by transmitting, over a network, data that caused the clientdevice to present the optimized digital component in the electronicdocument.

An incremental interaction factor is determined for the optimizeddigital component (312). The incremental interaction factor is anumerical value that is used to attribute a portion of interactionsgenerated by the optimized digital component to the digital componentwhen the optimized digital component is presented instead of the digitalcomponent. For example, the incremental interaction factor can representan incremental amount of interactions that are generated by the digitalcomponent relative to the amount of interactions generated by searchresults that identify the same entity as the digital component.

In some implementations, the incremental interaction factor for theoptimized digital component is determined using a baseline interactionrating for search results that identify the same entity and a componentinteraction rating for one or more digital components that identify thesame entity. The baseline interaction rating for search results is ameasure of interactions (e.g., application downloads, conversions, orin-app activity or revenue) that are attributable to the search resultsindependent of the presentation of digital components (e.g.,advertisements). The baseline interaction rating for search results (orother portions of visual content) that identify the same entity can bedetermined, for example, based on interactions that are generated bysearch results (or other portions of visual content) that are presentedwithout a digital component that identifies the same entity. Forexample, assume that the search results 208 a-208 c in FIG. 2 werepresented without the digital component 202 at various different times.In this example, interactions (e.g., downloads of App1) attributable tothe presentation of the search result 208 a could be used to determinethe baseline interaction rating for the search results that identifyApp1. For example, a download rate (e.g., number of downloads ofApp1/presentations of search results that identify App1) associated withpresentations of the search results that identify App1 without a digitalcomponent could be determined for the search results, and this downloadrate could be used as the baseline interaction rating for the searchresults that identify App1. Other interaction measures (e.g., clickrates, conversion rates, or specified in-app activity) could also beused to determine the baseline interaction rating for the search resultsthat identify App1 in this example.

The component interaction rating for digital components that identifythe same entity (e.g., a particular entity) is a measure of interactionsthat are attributable to presentations of the digital components thatidentify that same entity. The component interaction rating for digitalcomponents can be determined, for example, based on interactions thatare generated when one of the digital components is presented inelectronic document. In some implementations, interactions performed byusers that were presented an electronic document that included thedigital component 202 of FIG. 2, can be used to determine the componentinteraction rating. For example, a download rate for App1 that isassociated with presentations of the digital component 202 can bedetermined and used as the component interaction rating for the digitalcomponent 202.

Once the baseline interaction rating and the component interactionrating have been determined, the incremental interaction factor can bedetermined using these ratings. For example, a ratio of the componentinteraction rating relative to the baseline interaction rating can becomputed, and the results can be used as the incremental interactionfactor for interactions generated by the optimized digital component.For purposes of example, assume that presentations of digital componentsidentifying App1 are associated with 10% more installs of App1 thanpresentations of search results identifying App1 that did not includepresentation of a digital component identifying App1. In this example,the incremental interaction factor for digital components identifyingApp1 may be set to 0.1, indicating that presentations of digitalcomponents identifying App1 provide an incremental installation rate of10% relative to presentations of search results identifying App1.

There are also other ways of determining the incremental interactionfactor. For example, the interaction rate (e.g., install rate) for aparticular application that is identified by a digital component can becompared to an interaction rate for a different application that is notidentified in digital components (e.g., an application that is not beingadvertised in search results pages). In this example, the differentapplication can be selected based on its similarity to the particularapplication. For example, if the particular application is a ridesharing application, the different application may be a different ridesharing application or a taxi service application. The incrementalinteraction factor can be determined, for example, based on a ratio ofthe interaction rate for the particular application relative to theinteraction rate for the different application. Alternatively, anaggregate (e.g., average) interaction rate can be determined formultiple different applications that are in a same category ofapplications (e.g., ride sharing or transportation applications) as theparticular application, and the incremental interaction factor can bedetermined as a ratio of the interaction rate for the particularapplication relative to the aggregate interaction rate for the multipledifferent applications that are in the same category as the particularapplication.

In another example, the incremental interaction factor can be determinedby comparing an interaction rate for a particular application in ageographic region where the digital component identifying the particularapplication is being distributed relative to an interaction rate for theparticular application in a different geographic region where thedigital component is not being distributed. For example, assume thatdigital components (e.g., advertisements or other designated types ofcontent) identifying App1 are being distributed in the United States,but not being distributed in Canada. In this example, the incrementalinteraction factor can be determined based on a ratio of the interactionrate in the United States relative to the interaction rate in Canada.

A fraction of interactions generated by the optimized digital componentare attributed to the digital component based on the incrementalinteraction factor (314). In some implementations, the fraction ofinteractions generated by the optimized digital component can beattributed to the digital component by determining a product of theincremental interaction factor and a measure of interactions generatedby the optimized digital component. For example, a number of applicationdownloads, specified in-app activity (e.g., first use, game levelcompletion, or in-app revenue), or other measures of interaction withthe application (e.g., App1) can be scaled by multiplying theincremental interaction factor with the number of application downloads,specified in-app activity, or other measures of interaction with theapplication. The resulting value will be the fraction of interactionsgenerated by the optimized digital component that are attributed to thedigital component.

The attribution of the fraction of interactions generated by theoptimized digital component enables the digital component to stillreceive credit for its contribution to generating the interactions evenwhen content of a search result is combined with the digital component.Continuing with the example above and assuming that the incrementalinteraction factor is 0.1, the digital component 202 will be attributed10% of the interactions generated by the optimized digital component.This fractional attribution accounts for the fact that presentation ofthe search results identifying App1 will generate some level ofinteraction, but credits the digital component the 10% incrementalinteractions that were determined to be generated by the digitalcomponent beyond the level of interaction generated by the searchresults.

A fraction of an install value is collected for each application installgenerated by the optimized digital component (316). In someimplementations, the fraction collected is determined in accordance withthe incremental interaction factor. For example, the incrementalinteraction factor can be multiplied by the install value to arrive atthe fraction of the install value that is collected. The install valuecan be, for example, an amount that the application developer is willingto submit (e.g., pay) for each install of the application (or specifiedinteraction with the application).

A third-party analytics server is interacted with to augment attributionof interactions to the digital component (318). In some implementations,the attribution of interactions to the digital component are augmentedbased on the incremental interaction factor for the digital componentwhen the interactions are generated by the optimized digital component.For example, as discussed above, the digital component can be attributeda fraction of the interactions that are generated by the optimizeddigital component by determining a product of the interactions and theincremental interaction factor. However, when third-party analyticsservers (e.g., operating independently of the digital componentdistribution system 110) are responsible for attributing interactions tothe digital component these third-party analytics servers generally donot have information specifying whether the optimized digital componentwas presented or the digital component was presented, or that afractional portion of the interactions, rather than all of theinteractions, are to be attributed to the digital component when theoptimized digital component is presented. Therefore, the third-partyanalytics servers must be transmitted information that enables (e.g.,configures) the third-party analytics servers to appropriately attributea fractional portion of the interactions to the digital component whenthe optimized digital component is presented rather than the digitalcomponent.

In some implementations, one or more servers (e.g., the digitalcomponent distribution system 110) receive an inquiry message from thethird-party analytics server. The inquiry message specifies a trackingidentifier corresponding to installation of an application at a clientdevice that is being attributed to the digital component. The trackingidentifier may be, for example, a unique identifier (e.g., component ID)that is assigned to each presentation of the digital component oroptimized digital component. As such, the tracking identifier can beused by the one or more servers to determine whether or the optimizeddigital component or the digital component generated (or led to) thisparticular installation of the application (or other interaction withthe application). For example, the one or more servers can compare thetracking identifier to a list of tracking identifiers that were assignedto various presentations of the digital component and the optimizeddigital component to identify which presentation was assigned thatspecific tracking identifier.

When the tracking identifier is identified within the list of trackingidentifiers, the one or more servers can make the determination that thetracking identifier corresponds to an instance in which the one moreservers distributed the optimized digital component instead of thedigital component (e.g., when the tacking identifier is associated withthe optimized digital component). For example, the instance of thetracking identifier within the list of the identifiers can includeinformation specifying that the optimized digital component is assignedthis particular tracking identifier.

When the determination is made that the tracking identifier correspondsto an instance in which the optimized digital component was presentedrather than the digital component, the one more servers can transmit aresponse to the inquiry message to the third-party analytics server. Theresponse can acknowledge that the tracking identifier originated fromthe one or more servers (e.g., indicating that the one or more serversin fact distributed content corresponding to the tracking identifier).Additionally, the response can specify that the incremental interactionfactor is to be applied to interactions that attributed to the trackingidentifier, thereby attributing a fraction of the interactions to thepresentation of the optimized digital component. In turn, thethird-party analytics server can store the incremental interactionfactor, and apply the incremental interaction factor to any interactions(e.g., the initial application install, as well as future interactions,such as in-app activity) that are attributed to the tracking identifierfor the optimized digital component. As such, the response to theinquiry message configures the third-party analytics server to implementthe fractional attribution being applied by the digital componentdistribution system without requiring the third-party analytics serverto have information about the use of the optimized digital component.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating example communications with athird-party server. As shown in FIG. 4 a client device 402 can submit arequest for content 404 to the digital component distribution system110. Note that the request can also be generated by a server or anothercomputing device that is part of a search system. The request 404 can bea request for a digital component to be incorporated into an electronicdocument. In response to the request, the digital component distributionsystem 110 can transmit optimized digital component data 406 to theclient device. The optimized digital component data 406 can include, forexample, an optimized digital component and a tracking identifieruniquely identifying the specific presentation of the optimized digitalcomponent at the client device 402.

When an interaction is generated by the optimized digital component atthe client device 402, a script included in the electronic documentcauses the client device 402 to transmit analytics data 408 to athird-party server 410 (e.g., a third-party analytics server). Theanalytics data 408 can include, for example, information identifying theinteraction (e.g., a download of a particular application, a first useof the particular application, or other in-app activities performedwithin the particular application), and can also include the trackingidentifier that was assigned to the optimized digital component by thedigital component distribution system 110.

In response to receiving the analytics data, the third-party server 410can transmit an inquiry message 412 to the digital componentdistribution system 110 and/or other digital component distributionsystems (e.g., operated by other digital component distributors). Theinquiry message 412 can include the tracking identifier obtained fromthe analytics data 408, so that the digital component distributionsystem can determine whether the analytics data corresponds to a digitalcomponent that was provided by the digital component distribution system110.

When the digital component distribution system 110 identifies thetracking identifier as one that was included in the optimized digitalcomponent data 406, the digital component distribution system 110 cantransmit a response 414 to the third-party server 410. As discussedabove, the response 414 can specify that the digital componentdistribution system 110 did provide content corresponding to thetracking identifier provided in the inquiry message 412. Additionally,the response 414 can include the incremental interaction factor that isused to attribute a fraction of interactions generated by the optimizeddigital component with its corresponding digital component (e.g., thedigital component that was modified to obtain the optimized digitalcomponent). The third-party server 410 can store the incrementalinteraction factor in an index of tracking information 416, andassociate the incremental interaction factor with the trackingidentifier that was received in the analytics data 408. The trackinginformation 416 can store associations between tracking identifiers(e.g., TI₁-TI_(x)) with their corresponding incremental interactionfactors (e.g., IIF₁-IIF_(x)). For example, each incremental interactionfactor can be indexed to the tracking identifier for which theincremental interaction factor was provided. When interactioninformation (e.g., additional analytics data) for one of the trackingidentifiers is received by the third-party server 410, a fractionalportion of the interaction information can be attributed to theinteraction information based on the incremental interaction factor thatis indexed to the tracking identifier, as discussed above.

FIG. 5 is block diagram of an example computer system 500 that can beused to perform operations described above. The system 500 includes aprocessor 510, a memory 520, a storage device 530, and an input/outputdevice 540. Each of the components 510, 520, 530, and 540 can beinterconnected, for example, using a system bus 550. The processor 510is capable of processing instructions for execution within the system500. In one implementation, the processor 510 is a single-threadedprocessor. In another implementation, the processor 510 is amulti-threaded processor. The processor 510 is capable of processinginstructions stored in the memory 520 or on the storage device 530.

The memory 520 stores information within the system 500. In oneimplementation, the memory 520 is a computer-readable medium. In oneimplementation, the memory 520 is a volatile memory unit. In anotherimplementation, the memory 520 is a non-volatile memory unit.

The storage device 530 is capable of providing mass storage for thesystem 500. In one implementation, the storage device 530 is acomputer-readable medium. In various different implementations, thestorage device 530 can include, for example, a hard disk device, anoptical disk device, a storage device that is shared over a network bymultiple computing devices (e.g., a cloud storage device), or some otherlarge capacity storage device.

The input/output device 540 provides input/output operations for thesystem 500. In one implementation, the input/output device 540 caninclude one or more of a network interface device, e.g., an Ethernetcard, a serial communication device, e.g., and RS-232 port, and/or awireless interface device, e.g., and 802.11 card. In anotherimplementation, the input/output device can include driver devicesconfigured to receive input data and send output data to otherinput/output devices, e.g., keyboard, printer and display devices 560.Other implementations, however, can also be used, such as mobilecomputing devices, mobile communication devices, set-top box televisionclient devices, etc.

Although an example processing system has been described in FIG. 5,implementations of the subject matter and the functional operationsdescribed in this specification can be implemented in other types ofdigital electronic circuitry, or in computer software, firmware, orhardware, including the structures disclosed in this specification andtheir structural equivalents, or in combinations of one or more of them.

An electronic document may, but need not, correspond to a file. Adocument may be stored in a portion of a file that holds otherdocuments, in a single file dedicated to the document in question, or inmultiple coordinated files.

Embodiments of the subject matter and the operations described in thisspecification can be implemented in digital electronic circuitry, or incomputer software, firmware, or hardware, including the structuresdisclosed in this specification and their structural equivalents, or incombinations of one or more of them. Embodiments of the subject matterdescribed in this specification can be implemented as one or morecomputer programs, i.e., one or more modules of computer programinstructions, encoded on computer storage medium for execution by, or tocontrol the operation of, data processing apparatus. Alternatively, orin addition, the program instructions can be encoded on anartificially-generated propagated signal, e.g., a machine-generatedelectrical, optical, or electromagnetic signal, that is generated toencode information for transmission to suitable receiver apparatus forexecution by a data processing apparatus. A computer storage medium canbe, or be included in, a computer-readable storage device, acomputer-readable storage substrate, a random or serial access memoryarray or device, or a combination of one or more of them. Moreover,while a computer storage medium is not a propagated signal, a computerstorage medium can be a source or destination of computer programinstructions encoded in an artificially-generated propagated signal. Thecomputer storage medium can also be, or be included in, one or moreseparate physical components or media (e.g., multiple CDs, disks, orother storage devices).

The operations described in this specification can be implemented asoperations performed by a data processing apparatus on data stored onone or more computer-readable storage devices or received from othersources.

The term “data processing apparatus” encompasses all kinds of apparatus,devices, and machines for processing data, including by way of example aprogrammable processor, a computer, a system on a chip, or multipleones, or combinations, of the foregoing. The apparatus can includespecial purpose logic circuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gatearray) or an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). Theapparatus can also include, in addition to hardware, code that createsan execution environment for the computer program in question, e.g.,code that constitutes processor firmware, a protocol stack, a databasemanagement system, an operating system, a cross-platform runtimeenvironment, a virtual machine, or a combination of one or more of them.The apparatus and execution environment can realize various differentcomputing model infrastructures, such as web services, distributedcomputing and grid computing infrastructures.

A computer program (also known as a program, software, softwareapplication, script, or code) can be written in any form of programminglanguage, including compiled or interpreted languages, declarative orprocedural languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including as astand-alone program or as a module, component, subroutine, object, orother unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computerprogram may, but need not, correspond to a file in a file system. Aprogram can be stored in a portion of a file that holds other programsor data (e.g., one or more scripts stored in a markup languagedocument), in a single file dedicated to the program in question, or inmultiple coordinated files (e.g., files that store one or more modules,sub-programs, or portions of code). A computer program can be deployedto be executed on one computer or on multiple computers that are locatedat one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by acommunication network.

The processes and logic flows described in this specification can beperformed by one or more programmable processors executing one or morecomputer programs to perform actions by operating on input data andgenerating output. The processes and logic flows can also be performedby, and apparatus can also be implemented as, special purpose logiccircuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC(application-specific integrated circuit).

Processors suitable for the execution of a computer program include, byway of example, both general and special purpose microprocessors, andany one or more processors of any kind of digital computer. Generally, aprocessor will receive instructions and data from a read-only memory ora random access memory or both. The essential elements of a computer area processor for performing actions in accordance with instructions andone or more memory devices for storing instructions and data. Generally,a computer will also include, or be operatively coupled to receive datafrom or transfer data to, or both, one or more mass storage devices forstoring data, e.g., magnetic, magneto-optical disks, or optical disks.However, a computer need not have such devices. Moreover, a computer canbe embedded in another device, e.g., a mobile telephone, a personaldigital assistant (PDA), a mobile audio or video player, a game console,a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, or a portable storage device(e.g., a universal serial bus (USB) flash drive), to name just a few.Devices suitable for storing computer program instructions and datainclude all forms of non-volatile memory, media and memory devices,including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, e.g., EPROM,EEPROM, and flash memory devices; magnetic disks, e.g., internal harddisks or removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROMdisks. The processor and the memory can be supplemented by, orincorporated in, special purpose logic circuitry.

To provide for interaction with a user, embodiments of the subjectmatter described in this specification can be implemented on a computerhaving a display device, e.g., a CRT (cathode ray tube) or LCD (liquidcrystal display) monitor, for displaying information to the user and akeyboard and a pointing device, e.g., a mouse or a trackball, by whichthe user can provide input to the computer. Other kinds of devices canbe used to provide for interaction with a user as well; for example,feedback provided to the user can be any form of sensory feedback, e.g.,visual feedback, auditory feedback, or tactile feedback; and input fromthe user can be received in any form, including acoustic, speech, ortactile input. In addition, a computer can interact with a user bysending documents to and receiving documents from a device that is usedby the user; for example, by sending web pages to a web browser on auser's client device in response to requests received from the webbrowser.

Embodiments of the subject matter described in this specification can beimplemented in a computing system that includes a back-end component,e.g., as a data server, or that includes a middleware component, e.g.,an application server, or that includes a front-end component, e.g., aclient computer having a graphical user interface or a Web browserthrough which a user can interact with an implementation of the subjectmatter described in this specification, or any combination of one ormore such back-end, middleware, or front-end components. The componentsof the system can be interconnected by any form or medium of digitaldata communication, e.g., a communication network. Examples ofcommunication networks include a local area network (“LAN”) and a widearea network (“WAN”), an inter-network (e.g., the Internet), andpeer-to-peer networks (e.g., ad hoc peer-to-peer networks).

The computing system can include clients and servers. A client andserver are generally remote from each other and typically interactthrough a communication network. The relationship of client and serverarises by virtue of computer programs running on the respectivecomputers and having a client-server relationship to each other. In someembodiments, a server transmits data (e.g., an HTML page) to a clientdevice (e.g., for purposes of displaying data to and receiving userinput from a user interacting with the client device). Data generated atthe client device (e.g., a result of the user interaction) can bereceived from the client device at the server.

While this specification contains many specific implementation details,these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of anyinventions or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions offeatures specific to particular embodiments of particular inventions.Certain features that are described in this specification in the contextof separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in asingle embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described inthe context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multipleembodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination. Moreover,although features may be described above as acting in certaincombinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more featuresfrom a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from thecombination, and the claimed combination may be directed to asubcombination or variation of a subcombination.

Similarly, while operations are depicted in the drawings in a particularorder, this should not be understood as requiring that such operationsbe performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, orthat all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirableresults. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processingmay be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various systemcomponents in the embodiments described above should not be understoodas requiring such separation in all embodiments, and it should beunderstood that the described program components and systems cangenerally be integrated together in a single software product orpackaged into multiple software products.

Thus, particular embodiments of the subject matter have been described.Other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims. In somecases, the actions recited in the claims can be performed in a differentorder and still achieve desirable results. In addition, the processesdepicted in the accompanying figures do not necessarily require theparticular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirableresults. In certain implementations, multitasking and parallelprocessing may be advantageous.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for generating optimized digitalcomponents, comprising: a digital component server that identifies adigital component to be presented in an electronic document; a digitalcomponent distribution server that interacts with the digital componentserver to perform operations including: determining that the electronicdocument includes a particular item that identifies a same entity as thedigital component that was identified to be presented in the electronicdocument; combining at least a portion of the digital component withcontent from the particular item to form an optimized digital component,wherein the combining is performed because of the determination that theparticular item identifies the same entity as the digital component;integrating the optimized digital component into the electronic documentrather than presenting either of the particular item or the digitalcomponent individually; and updating a user interface of a client deviceto present the electronic document that includes the optimized digitalcomponent rather than either of the particular item or the digitalcomponent; determining, for the optimized digital component, anincremental interaction factor based on an incremental amount ofinteractions generated by presentations of the digital componentrelative to an amount of interactions generated by items other than thedigital component that identify the same entity; and attributing, to thedigital component, a fraction of interactions generated by the optimizeddigital component based on the incremental interaction factor.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein: the particular item is a given search resultin a set of search results that are responsive to a received query,wherein the set of search results have been generated for presentationin the electronic document; and determining the incremental interactionfactor for the optimized digital component comprises: determining abaseline interaction rating for search results that identify the sameentity; determining a component interaction rating for one or moredigital components that identify the same entity; and determining theincremental interaction factor, including determining a ratio of thecomponent interaction rating to the baseline interaction rating.
 3. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein attributing a fraction of interactionsgenerated by the optimized digital component to the digital componentcomprises determining a product of the incremental interaction factorand a measure of interactions generated by the optimized digitalcomponent.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital componentdistribution server performs operations further comprising interactingwith a third-party analytics server to augment attribution of theinteractions generated by the optimized digital component to the digitalcomponent based on the incremental interaction factor for the digitalcomponent.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein interacting with thethird-party analytics server comprises: receiving, by the digitalcomponent distribution server and from the third-party analytics server,an inquiry message specifying a tracking identifier corresponding toinstallation of an application at a client device that is beingattributed to the digital component; determining that the trackingidentifier corresponds to an instance in which an optimized digitalcomponent rather than the digital component was presented; transmitting,to the third-party analytics server in response to the inquiry message,a response that acknowledges the tracking identifier as originating fromthe one or more servers and specifies that the incremental interactionfactor is to be applied to interactions attributed to the trackingidentifier.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the digital componentdistribution server performs operations further comprising collecting,for each application install generated by the optimized digitalcomponent, a fraction of an install value submitted for each applicationinstall attributed to the digital component, wherein the fraction isdetermined in accordance with the incremental interaction factor.
 7. Amethod for optimizing digital components performed by one or moreservers, the method comprising: identifying a digital component to bepresented in an electronic document; determining, by the one or moreservers, that the electronic document includes a particular item thatidentifies a same entity as the digital component that was identified tobe presented in the electronic document; combining, by the one or moreservers, at least a portion of the digital component with content fromthe particular item to form an optimized digital component, wherein thecombining is performed because of the determination that the particularitem identifies the same entity as the digital component; andintegrating, by the one or more servers, the optimized digital componentinto the electronic document rather than presenting either of theparticular item or the digital component individually; and updating, bythe one or more servers, a user interface of a client device to presentthe electronic document that includes the optimized digital componentrather than either of the particular item or the digital component;determining, for the optimized digital component, an incrementalinteraction factor based on an incremental amount of interactionsgenerated by presentations of the digital component relative to anamount of interactions generated by items other than the digitalcomponent that identify the same entity; and attributing, to the digitalcomponent, a fraction of interactions generated by the optimized digitalcomponent based on the incremental interaction factor.
 8. The method ofclaim 7, wherein: the particular item is a given search result in a setof search results that are responsive to a received query, wherein theset of search results have been generated for presentation in theelectronic document; and determining the incremental interaction factorfor the optimized digital component comprises: determining a baselineinteraction rating for search results that identify the same entity;determining a component interaction rating for one or more digitalcomponents that identify the same entity; and determining theincremental interaction factor, including determining a ratio of thecomponent interaction rating to the baseline interaction rating.
 9. Themethod of claim 7, wherein attributing a fraction of interactionsgenerated by the optimized digital component to the digital componentcomprises determining a product of the incremental interaction factorand a measure of interactions generated by the optimized digitalcomponent.
 10. The method of claim 7, further comprising interactingwith a third-party analytics server to augment attribution of theinteractions generated by the optimized digital component to the digitalcomponent based on the incremental interaction factor for the digitalcomponent.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein interacting with thethird-party analytics server comprises: receiving, by the one or moreservers and from the third-party analytics server, an inquiry messagespecifying a tracking identifier corresponding to installation of anapplication at a client device that is being attributed to the digitalcomponent; determining that the tracking identifier corresponds to aninstance in which an optimized digital component rather than the digitalcomponent was presented; transmitting, to the third-party analyticsserver in response to the inquiry message, a response that acknowledgesthe tracking identifier as originating from the one or more servers andspecifies that the incremental interaction factor is to be applied tointeractions attributed to the tracking identifier.
 12. The method ofclaim 7, further comprising collecting, for each application installgenerated by the optimized digital component, a fraction of an installvalue submitted for each application install attributed to the digitalcomponent, wherein the fraction is determined in accordance with theincremental interaction factor.
 13. A non-transitory computer storagemedium encoded with a computer program, the program comprisinginstructions that when executed by data processing apparatus cause thedata processing apparatus to perform operations comprising: identifyinga digital component to be presented in an electronic document;determining that the electronic document includes a particular item thatidentifies a same entity as the digital component that was identified tobe presented in the electronic document; combining at least a portion ofthe digital component with content from the particular item to form anoptimized digital component, wherein the combining is performed becauseof the determination that the particular item identifies the same entityas the digital component; and integrating the optimized digitalcomponent into the electronic document rather than presenting either ofthe particular item or the digital component individually; and updatinga user interface of a client device to present the electronic documentthat includes the optimized digital component rather than either of theparticular item or the digital component; determining, for the optimizeddigital component, an incremental interaction factor based on anincremental amount of interactions generated by presentations of thedigital component relative to an amount of interactions generated byitems other than the digital component that identify the same entity;and attributing, to the digital component, a fraction of interactionsgenerated by the optimized digital component based on the incrementalinteraction factor.
 14. The computer storage medium of claim 13,wherein: the particular item is a given search result in a set of searchresults that are responsive to a received query, wherein the set ofsearch results have been generated for presentation in the electronicdocument; and determining the incremental interaction factor for theoptimized digital component comprises: determining a baselineinteraction rating for search results that identify the same entity;determining a component interaction rating for one or more digitalcomponents that identify the same entity; and determining theincremental interaction factor, including determining a ratio of thecomponent interaction rating to the baseline interaction rating.
 15. Thecomputer storage medium of claim 13, wherein attributing a fraction ofinteractions generated by the optimized digital component to the digitalcomponent comprises determining a product of the incremental interactionfactor and a measure of interactions generated by the optimized digitalcomponent.
 16. The computer storage medium of claim 13, furthercomprising interacting with a third-party analytics server to augmentattribution of the interactions generated by the optimized digitalcomponent to the digital component based on the incremental interactionfactor for the digital component.
 17. The computer storage medium ofclaim 16, wherein interacting with the third-party analytics servercomprises: receiving, by the data processing apparatus and from thethird-party analytics server, an inquiry message specifying a trackingidentifier corresponding to installation of an application at a clientdevice that is being attributed to the digital component; determiningthat the tracking identifier corresponds to an instance in which anoptimized digital component rather than the digital component waspresented; transmitting, to the third-party analytics server in responseto the inquiry message, a response that acknowledges the trackingidentifier as originating from the one or more servers and specifiesthat the incremental interaction factor is to be applied to interactionsattributed to the tracking identifier.
 18. The computer storage mediumof claim 13, wherein the instructions cause the data processingapparatus to perform operations comprising collecting, for eachapplication install generated by the optimized digital component, afraction of an install value submitted for each application installattributed to the digital component, wherein the fraction is determinedin accordance with the incremental interaction factor.